Purchase and Ward wins silver at world champs
More medals for team South Africa as local residents win silver in the K2 event.
MT EDGECOMBE’S Jenna Ward and La Lucia’s Kyeta Purchase claimed the silver medal in the K2 Women’s event at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Brandenburg, Germany after three frenetic days of racing. The duo fought bravely to cling to the tail of marathon racing legend Renáta Csay and her Hungarian partner, Alexandra Bara. Having left the rest of the field in their wake, Ward and Purchase went head to head with their more fancied rivals with only an endsprint separating the two crews.
“That was the best race of our lives,” said Ward. “Racing with Renáta – our role model – was an absolute honour and it was just the most amazing thing we’ve ever done.”
“It was amazing to race against Renáta, she was so strong the whole way and I just kept saying to Jen ‘Come on, let’s hang in there’ and luckily we were able to just keep grinding and made sure the girls behind us weren’t able to catch us,” added Purchase.
In Friday’s race, Purchase got the South African charge off to a positive start at the world championships when she won the bronze medal in the K1 Junior Girls race while Mt Edgecombe’s Jenna Ward put in a brave effort to finish fourth in the K1 U23 women’s race.
